The Good Place

By Erin Giannini

"Pobody’s nerfect" - or whatever the saying might be! As humans we are constantly worried about how our actions may come back to haunt us. The Good Place (2016–2020) is a high-concept American sitcom that brought light to the dark topic of the afterlife, and the show tackled this worry head-on. Although it had a lifespan of only four seasons, The Good Place made a lasting impact on American television culture and garnered many accolades for producer Michael Schur (also producer of The Office, Parks and Recreation, and Brooklyn Nine-Nine). Author Erin Giannini argues that the show redefines the classic sitcom structure by mixing the genres of fantasy and comedy, while simultaneously teaching the viewers the importance of character development through the analysis of moral and ethical principles. Giannini also analyzes the "not so in your face" political commentary seen in The Good Place, as this show took place during a tumultuous time in American politics. Television studies scholars and fans of the show will enjoy Giannini’s analysis of The Good Place as they read about the show’s laughs and twists and turns.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wayne State University Press
• Release date: Aug 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9780814348666

Book preview

Cover Page for The Good Place

Praise for The Good Place

"Holy forking shirtballs, Erin Giannini has written the definitive guide to The Good Place! With a thoughtful eye for detail, Giannini weaves an understanding of the thematic, political, narratological, and pedagogical value of this groundbreaking sitcom. A must-read for fans and scholars alike, this volume explores what The Good Place is, what it can be, and what it means for all of us."

—Paul Booth, professor of media and cinema studies, DePaul University

"In addition to her excellent observations on The Good Place’s pointed comedic critique, its deft storytelling techniques, and its engagement with deeper themes, Giannini insightfully examines the place of the series among its televised forebears, contemporaries, and descendants. The Good Place is a good read!"

—Janet Brennan Croft, editor of Mythlore: A Journal of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Charles Williams, and Mythopoeic Literature

"This excellent study provides a sophisticated account of the ambitions of The Good Place. Erin Giannini guides us through the complexities of the show both as a sitcom and as pedagogy, assisting us in appreciating both its philosophical themes and its achievement as television. Anyone interested in the show or the possibilities of television would benefit from reading this book."

—James B. South, professor of philosophy, Marquette University

"The Good Place provides a thorough and commanding televisual critique worthy of the complexity of its subject matter. Erin Giannini grounds her scholarship in well-explicated political and philosophical context, helping the reader to appreciate both the series’ immediate social relevance and its value as art that transcends its cultural moment. Excellent reading for scholars, students, and fans."

—Regina Hansen, Boston University

The Good Place

TV Milestones

Series Editor

Barry Keith Grant, Brock University

TV Milestones is part of the Contemporary Approaches to Film and Media Series.

A complete listing of the books in this series can be found online at wsupress.wayne.edu.

The Good Place

Erin Giannini

Wayne State University Press

Detroit

Copyright © 2022 by Wayne State University Press, Detroit, Michigan, 48201. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced without formal permission.

ISBN 978-0-8143-4432-3 (paperback)

ISBN 978-0-8143-4433-0 (e-book)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022933654

Wayne State University Press rests on Waawiyaataanong, also referred to as Detroit, the ancestral and contemporary homeland of the Three Fires Confederacy. These sovereign lands were granted by the Ojibwe, Odawa, Potawatomi, and Wyandot Nations, in 1807, through the Treaty of Detroit. Wayne State University Press affirms Indigenous sovereignty and honors all tribes with a connection to Detroit. With our Native neighbors, the press works to advance educational equity and promote a better future for the earth and all people.

Wayne State University Press

Leonard N. Simons Building

4809 Woodward Avenue

Detroit, Michigan 48201-1309

Visit us online at wsupress.wayne.edu.

References to internet websites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing. Neither the author nor Wayne State University Press is responsible for URLs that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

To my aunt Pat Stephens (1931–2019), who always encouraged me, and more than earned her spot in the Good Place.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Entering The Good Place

1. Puppet Masters and Playthings: The Good Place as Sitcom Meta-Commentary

2. Up to 104% Perfect: Narrative and Visual Style

3. What We Owe to Each Other: The Good Place’s Political Commentary

4. Teach Me Tonight: The Good Place’s Pedagogy

Conclusion: Whenever You’re Ready: The Multiple Meanings of The Good Place

Notes

Bibliography

Index

About the Author

Acknowledgments

Endless gratitude for those who helped this book be, including Stacey Abbott, for early advice on the process; the Science Fiction and Fantasy section of the Southwest Popular and American Culture Association, for discussion and ideas; Tamy Burnett, for helping turn an offhanded comment during a panel into what would become the book’s first chapter; Kristopher Woofter, for encouragement and discussion; Marie Sweetman, for editorial prowess and thoughtfulness; and Carol Giannini, for support.

Introduction

Entering The Good Place

Michael (Ted Danson), a demon architect initially bent on torturing humans, only to become their staunchest supporter, attempts to inspire Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) after a succession of failures by telling her: You fail and then you try something else. And you fail again and again, and you fail a thousand times, and you keep trying because maybe the 1001st idea might work. His words are applicable on multiple levels, both within and outside the series The Good Place (2016–2020). The narrative of the series, set primarily in an afterlife and focused on four morally or ethically dubious (to various degrees) human characters, consistently portrayed these humans as trying—and sometimes failing—to be better people, even though much of this growth occurred after they had died. Moving outward from the series’ specific narrative, it can be applied to the creative process of developing and shepherding a creative work through multiple drafts: some stories work, some don’t, and the artist tries again. For creator Michael Schur, however, Michael’s words serve as his own thesis statement on what The Good Place is trying to convey:

We were arguing for trying. [As you set out to] achieve ethical or moral perfection in your life, you’re gonna screw up a million times, and when you die, you’ll look back and say, Yeah, I was screwing up until the very end. But this show is arguing that that doesn’t mean you don’t try to do the right thing. In fact, that means you try harder. You really have to just hope and believe that it’s worth doing, that it’s worth putting in the work. (Snierson 2020)

Or, in Eleanor’s own words, when all hope seems lost that the four humans, Michael, and embodied artificial intelligence (AI) Janet (D’Arcy Carden) can escape an eternity in hell: I think we have one move left. We can try (Jeremy Bearimy 3.5).

The idea of trying to live a moral and ethical life is not a radical one; however, the timing of the series’ debut (September 2016), as well as the optimism it displayed in arguing that no one is irredeemable, struck many viewers and commentators as needed (e.g., Kaffer 2020). While it made few overt political references (see chapter 3), its argument for connection and empathy stood in contrast to the contemporaneous—and frequent—political messages of divisiveness and us-vs.-them during the years it aired.

Further, in terms of both narrative and character development, The Good Place hews closer to serialized drama than sitcom. That is, not only does each episode build on the previous one—with the attendant narrative memory—but the series itself is predicated on the ethical and moral growth of its characters. Its pedagogical impulse (teaching the characters to be better) extends to its audience, in that the ethics lessons are clear enough to increase viewer knowledge. New viewing platforms played a significant role in the series’ success, suggesting shifts in distribution and development. Finally, it is one of only a few sitcoms that fit more comfortably into the fantasy/science fiction genre.

On the (Literal) Road to The Good Place: Conception and Creation

Michael Schur has plenty of experience in sitcoms, having written for or co-created some of the decade’s most popular or critically acclaimed shows, including The Office (writer/producer) (2005–2013),¹ Parks and Recreation (with Greg Daniels) (2009–2013), and Brooklyn Nine-Nine (with Dan Goor) (2013–2021). Indeed, Schur was specifically chosen by Daniels to help develop what was originally conceived of as a spin-off to The Office, requested by the then co-chair of NBC’s entertainment division Ben Silverman (Itzkoff 2009). While Parks and Recreation did not end up being a spin-off—the main plot revolves around Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler) as the deputy director of the Parks and Recreation department in fictional Pawnee, Indiana—it is a stylistic spin-off, in the sense that both it and The Office employ a similar mockumentary style. (Unlike The Office, however, it is never indicated who is filming them or to what purpose.) Brooklyn Nine-Nine came about due to Schur’s development deal with Universal; both he and fellow Parks and Recreation producer Dan Goor (who had also been Schur’s classmate at Harvard) decided to reboot the cop comedy. According to Schur, cop comedy had been an underused genre since Barney Miller (1975–1982) went off the air, and thus represented a comedy landscape that hasn’t been troughed (D’Alessandro 2014). Rather than employing the mockumentary format for a third time, however, Brooklyn Nine-Nine uses a more conventional sitcom structure, while simultaneously connecting itself to earlier police dramas by using the same handheld-camera style of series such as Hill Street Blues (1981–1987) or through episodes such as The Box (5.14), which recalls series star